Our Life, Love and Pursuit of Happiness… (and home renovations)

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Sloan and I were snuggled in bed with Zoë tonight doing bedtime. Zo asked if Sloan could stay for a sleepover. I said not tonight she is too small, but when she is bigger she would stay every night and they would share a room–Sloan can sleep in your old crib!!

Zoë thought for a minute and said “no Mama she can sleep right here” and patted right next to her. We all stayed in Z’s big girl bed until she fell asleep and when I went to get up I noticed that she had fallen asleep touching her sister. I hope that they always love each other like this.

Welcome topside my little girl! You have been here for roughly 30 hours so far and already you have rocked our world. You couldn’t wait for Wednesday when we were planning on your arrival and instead made your debut yesterday (a solid 4 days early) Nearly everyone had said that you were going to be a boy so your Daddy and I were very surprised to have another girl. Surprised and brought to tears the both of us. I never had a sister so I must say I’m very excited that Zoë will get to have that relationship.

So many things have happened in the past day and a bit that I never want to forget.

I want to remember me being sure I wasn’t in real labour and planning to drive myself to the hospital, the way it soon became clear that you were on your way. The way your daddy got here just in time to calm me down in the operating room. I want to remember the sound of his voice and the look on his face when he told me we had another daughter.

I am so excited you are here and can’t wait for what lies ahead. Be prepared for adventure little girl, your sister will ensure it.

…and what a week it has been thus far. Since Monday I have been participating in my favourite annual documentation project–Ali Edwards’ A Week in the Life. I participated August 2015 and November 2014 and it’s one project I actually seem to complete. This week has been an interesting one as I’ve been closely examining our life right now in the last possible week that it could be like this. There is a new member of the Walsh crew set to debut next Wednesday, but with the way I’ve been feeling the past two days I’m wondering if s/he might make an early appearance.
I usually blog daily when I do this, but this time around I’ve been just taking notes on my phone and a million photos and hoping I can assemble my thoughts and pictures before #2 arrives

This week started off with Gs mom taking Zoë for two days which was lovely–a chance for me to miss my girl, for her to get spoiled by her Dama, to get some stuff done around the house and for G and I to have some quiet alone time (which will not be a thing for the next little while) The latter half of the week has seen my desire to get things done being overwhelmed with my lack of comfort and ability. Today my mum spent the day loading my freezer with meals I had planned to make, and Garret cleaning my Van til it sparkled…both tasks I was determined to tackle but just are beyond me at this point. From now til Baby time the main goal is survival, spend some time with the family and get my head around what is coming.

This week has been about looking forward as well as looking back, about growth and excitement and nerves and panic and hormones. About celebrating the wonder that is my daughter when she is just her, before she becomes a big sister and I somehow look at her differently…she will seem like such a big girl when compared to this wee person we are bringing home. This week is about realizing nothing more can be prepared and that “what is coming will come and we will face it when it does.” About beginnings and endings and babies and fathers and mothers and trusting your partner to have your back. To see this crazy shift on the horizon and lean in to each other to support and rejoice.

Nothing about this week was really a glimpse into a “real” week in our life, but more a glimpse of one random week where nothing was really familiar and nothing will be the same. I am so excited/scared/nervous/euphoric for the upcoming days. Watching everything change one more time for us.

There are a few noises that rouse me from sleep rather easily. One such sound is toddler feet on hardwood in the middle of the night. Zoë has been in a big girl bed since before Christmas but until recently has never left the safety of her cozy bed in the night. Many nights we awoke at ungodly hours to the cries of “daddy”, or more frequently “mama” but the past four nights I’ve woken up around 4am to see a little girl standing in my doorway clutching her Bunny. She comes crawling in with us, demanding I go get the blanket, waterbottle and dolly she couldn’t carry on her initial journey down the hall. By the time I return she has sprawled out in such a way that seems to negate all of the room typically offered by a King.

Last night I bailed from my marital bed and crawled instead into a purple sheeted empty toddler bed. No one was kicking me in the head nor sleeping on top of me. It was glorious! I think a game of bed swap may be our new nightly thing. I’m beyond caring at this point as long as I get some sleep!

Another month down and I super love this project! This is probably my favourite ap at the moment, I get so excited to see everything mashed together at the end. The next few months are going to fly by so it will be neat to look back at these brief seconds capturing our every day.

Garret turned 32 this week which is wonderful because it now marks a few months where I am only three years older. July rolls around and it bumps back up to four….and he cherishes reminding me of being his ‘old lady’ at any chance he gets. Z now gets the idea of birthdays and presents and CAKE oh man Cake….this was a really fun birthday as she was excited for it all week, had made him a card with Nana and practiced singing him happy birthday. Z and Nana baked a cake and Zo decorated it and we all enjoyed after dinner. She only had eyes for “the cake Daddy I made a cake” We managed to force a few mouthfuls of dinner down her, but girl was pumped for the cake. She sang her heart out and helped blow out the candles. It was just so SO much fun.

Now we are preparing for the 7th annual birthday party at the Cabin. Guy’s night tonight, grownups day/night tomorrow and family day tomorrow for the Superbowl. It has been one of our longest lasting yearly traditions that our group of friends really look forward to. Reflecting on 7 years it is amazing to see how much we have all changed, marriages, babies, second babies….we are all growing up…yikes. What used to be a weekend long hangover has changed to us passing out from exhaustion of child rearing plus a glass of wine. (well at least for the Mums) The Dad’s still seem to manage to get some drinking done 🙂

After two glorious weeks of letting Zoë be our alarm clock, I just set mine for 6am tomorrow. As miss Z has taken the Christmas holidays as a time to learn how to sleep in, this should be interesting.

It has really been an amazing break filled with family time, crazy house organizing/cleaning, visits with friends, far too many M&M’s, and some glorious, glorious naps. We had quite an extensive list of things we wanted to tackle and much to my surprise we managed to get them done. The house has never looked so clean,we have taken several van loads of clothing/toys/unused whatevers to the Salvation Army and I think we are heading into 2016 in a great place. We had some serious motivators including my Mum (who is like a less OCD,Canadian Marie Kondo) and the imminent looming “having friends in for NYE” threat that kept us on task. Go team clean house! We never normally have this much time at home to get ‘er done…and I have to say we keep patting ourselves on the back about it. Here’s hoping we don’t lose momentum as soon as we are back to work.

This past week has also marked the halfway point for this pregnancy. Which seems to have come out of nowhere…how can I be this pregnant?! Garret and I have both found it crazy how quickly this one is flying by. Also…this one seems to go more unnoticed by both of us, work/life/demanding yet adorable toddler seem to keep us on our toes and distracted from this whole “brewing another human” thing. From time to time I am amazed by how tired I feel and then remember that I’m allowed to be. Not lazy just knocked up…my new mantra to myself. With the snow this week I’m finding myself wishing winter away…but when that is gone then it’s spring and we are at GO TIME for #2. Crazy crazy crazy. Well 2106 you’re starting off on an upswing let’s keep this going!